American, Italian hostages killed in U.S. drone strike

Associated Press

April 23, 2015

Photo: Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

Flowers and ribbons adorn a tree outside the Weinstein familyhouse in Rockville, Md., Thursday, April 23, 2015. Earlier, President Barack Obama took full responsibility for the counterterror missions and offered his "grief and condolences" to the families of the hostages, Warren Weinstein of Rockville, Maryland, and Giovanni Lo Porto who were inadvertently killed by CIA drone strikes early this year. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Flowers and ribbons adorn a tree outside the Weinstein familyhouse...

WASHINGTON — Blaming the “fog of war,” President Obama revealed Thursday that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan inadvertently killed an American and an Italian, two hostages held by al Qaeda, as well as two other Americans who had leadership roles with the terror network.

Obama somberly said he took full responsibility for the January CIA strikes and regretted the deaths of hostages Warren Weinstein of Rockville, Md., and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian aid worker. The president cast the incident as a tragic consequence of the special difficulties of the fight against terrorists.

The incident is likely to spark fresh scrutiny of Obama’s frequent use of drones to target terrorists and his pledge to strike only when there is “near certainty” that no civilians will be harmed.

Weinstein, who was captured as he neared the end of a contract assignment with the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Lo Porto were killed during a drone strike against an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan, near the Afghan border. U.S. officials said the compound was targeted because intelligence showed it was frequented by al Qaeda leaders. That same intelligence offered no indication the hostages were there, the officials said.

Ahmed Farouq, a dual U.S.-Pakistani national who was an al Qaeda operations leader in Pakistan, was killed in the strike, along with a small number of members of the terror organization, the officials said. Adam Gadahn, an Orange County native who served as an al Qaeda spokesman, was killed in a separate strike on a second compound.

“It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes — sometimes deadly mistakes — can occur,” Obama said at the White House.

U.S. officials said Farouq and Gadahn were not specifically targeted in the operations and there was no evidence they were at either compound.

The president said he had ordered a review of the incidents to help identify any changes that might be made to prevent similar deaths in the future.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama did not personally sign off on the two drone strikes but believes they fell within the guidelines he has set for counterterror missions. Earnest also said the president did not regret the deaths of Farouq and Gadahn.

On Wednesday, Obama spoke with Weinstein’s wife, Elaine, as well as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.